Numerical simulations of a novel electrical heated brick firing kiln

To achieve the goal of a sustainable and CO2-neutral future, it is crucial for industries with high carbon footprints, such as the brick manufacturing industry, to utilize sustainable alternatives to natural gas. One of the available options is the use of carbon-free electricity. In Austria world leading brick manufacturer Wienerberger AG is currently building a kiln, which produces all its heat by electricity.The use of electricity fundamentally alters the firing process and therefore a novel approach to the kiln design is applied. The electrically heated kiln uses several heating elements on top, on the sides, and on the floor in each kiln zone to heat the bricks. Additionally, TOREtech nozzles are used to increase turbulence and enhance heat transfer. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), using the commercial software Ansys Fluent, is used to analyze the heat distribution in the kiln zone, as well as to shed light on the fatigue life of the heating elements.
The results show that even in the most critical zone of the kiln, the applied heating elements are sufficient to heat the brick in the specified time, while also staying within their operating limits. The heat distribution of the kiln and the bricks is comparable and even better than in a state-of-the-art gasfired kiln.